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More than 2,100 victims of female genital mutilation have been treated in London hospitals since 2010, it emerged today.
Almost 300 women needed surgery to help them recover from the brutal ritual, new figures have revealed.
Among those treated in the capital's hospitals included 12 children, including one girl who had been left with an 'open wound' following the criminal act.
Despite being illegal in the UK, female genital mutilation is on the rise with an estimated 66,000 women dealing with the after-effects and more than 20,000 young girls thought to be at risk.
The procedure is associated with communities in Africa, particularly Mali, Somalia, Sudan and Kenya, as well as some parts of the Middle East.
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Nimko Ali was just seven years old when she was taken to Somalia for a 'holiday' where she would be subjected to the horrific procedure.
'There was a woman at the door in a burka. I was scared and instinctively started running. When I was caught, I was taken into a room filled with instruments I didn't recognise,' she said.
'The woman I was so afraid of was there waiting for me. She scolded me for running away, telling me how difficult it was to obtain equipment like this; how ungrateful I was.
'I blacked out before she started cutting. I'm still not sure whether it was the anaesthetic or pure fear'.
When Ali woke, she was in agony with her legs bound together. Taken back to the Uk two days later, Ali found that friends and teachers were unwilling to take her story seriously, leaving her feeling let down and alone.
Thousands upon thousands of little girls are cruelly sliced with rusty blades by twisted and perverted religious fanatics... yet there is no huge outcry and no one screaming that we must STOP THIS at all costs, even if that means sparking off a global conflict. No one is pushing for airstrikes against Mali, Somalia, Sudan and Kenya or the other countries where the governments ALLOW and even CONDONE this!